Burt Bacharach: At This Time

CML call number: CD/POPULAR/Bacharach
Burt Bacharach wrote this in the Huffington Post: "I've been writing songs all my life, never rocking the boat. … But starting with the 2000 election, things for me began to change. … I started working on an album with music different from any that I had ever written before. … The first song I wrote for the album was 'Please Explain,' … 'There was a song I remember said "What the World Needs Now" …/ Where is the love, where did it go/ Who broke our hearts 'cause we need to know/ Where are the dreams that we once knew? Please explain …' I put this over a Dr. Dre drum loop … and it felt right. … My work on 'At This Time' climaxed into a piece called 'Who Are These People?' that had a guest vocal by Elvis Costello. … 'Who are these people that keep telling us lies/ and how did these people get control of our lives/ and who'll stop the violence 'cause it's out of control?/ Make 'em stop.' And then when Elvis came in on the middle verse he sang, 'This stupid mess we're in just keeps getting worse,/ so many people dying needlessly/ looks like these liars may inherit the earth' … I'm very glad I did this album and that it won a Grammy this year."